in today's cover story, the key factors pushing the housing market in its recovery. plus, enough with work/life balance. one critic tells us that we're wired to love the rat race. and, tired of your job? these companies have been ranked as some of the best to work for. find out which ones made the cut. first business starts now. you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas.

a good monday morning to you. i'm bill moller. angie will be back tomorrow. here's the first look for september 24th. you can bet iphone sales will still be strong today. virtually every apple store on the planet had crowds waiting at the doors. the line at london's regent street store may have been the longest in retail history. 1,297 were outside the door friday morning. this week we'll learn how many phones were gobbled up, and later in the show we'll learn how to make a play for apple in your portfolio. the u.s. treasury department is going to much more aggressively go after the dirty laundry of money launderers. a sweeping new proposal is planned. it enlists the banks in monitoring accounts more aggressively. banks say what the government wants may be too hard to fulfill. and to the relief of many, spain could, this week, announce a new bailout rescue plan for its banks. the financial times reports, if spain meets the eu's conditions the european central bank would also step in and buy part of spain's debt. let's talk with scott bauer

from trading advantage. boy scott, a really broad rally. a lot of companies hitting all- time highs, a lot of sectors setting all-time highs. we're told to buy on the lows, wait for dips, but everybody is just buying on strength here. > > that's really what we're seeing in the marketplace. last week was really just kind of a breather. after we saw the big run-up after the fed announcement, last week we really held the ground. the market held its ground. what that's really telling traders, what that's telling me, is, we're in this for the long haul right now. this rally that we've seen over the last few months probably is not ending any time too soon. the one thing that really sticks out to me is last week we saw china drop 4, 4.5%. didn't even matter. no blip on our radar screen here. if we see that market recover a little bit this week going forward, really all that's going to do is bolster our market even more. > > nobody's talking about europe. that hasn't been

mentioned in a long time. what are people saying down there on the floor? 14,000 likely by the end of the year? > > people are saying with the way that volatility is trading right now, be long this marketplace, because protection is cheap, whether you're using options, whether you're using s&p options, the vix, it's so cheap right now, you can really stay long this market and buy your downside protection. until we see some sort of reversal in that, until we see some sort of unrest or something with the election, that's going to be the mantra here, probably going even through this entire earnings season. > > how about small caps, very quickly? they've had some good growth since july. is that likely to continue? > > i think the entire marketplace right now, you want to be generally across the board here. there's no stopping any of this market, whether it's commodities, small caps, the s&p. right now, the trend is really the bull, and the trend is probably grinding higher over the next few weeks.

> > scott bauer, you go out there and make some money. > > we're going to try. the real estate market is seeing more closings in residential properties around the country than this same time last year. in our cover story, some of the reasons - among them, prices being asked by sellers. in many cases, those prices are dropping. residential real estate closings are up. in charlotte, north carolina, 22.2%. in south florida, 25.3%. in chicago, 28.5%. "we're seeing a huge increase in buyers, pre-approvals. it's a big change from last year." as closings have gone up, prices have come down - 2.5% nationwide 1.25% in chicago. not a lot, but there are deals: the seller dropped the price of this two bedroom, two bath condo in chicago $50,000. "if you buy a property today, you're not going to lose a significant amount on it tomorrow. that drives people to the banks, where interest rates are so attractive, and they buy their home." in some parts of the country,

august was the best month for sales volume since 2007. and most buyers are going for 30- year fixed mortgages. in july, those rates hit 3.49%, the lowest since the 1950s. they've nudged up only slightly. "in general, people are going for the 30-year fixed because it doesn't make sense to get anything else unless you know you're going to pay it off immediately, then get an a.r.m. but if you aren't, a 30-year fixed is just about as attractive as it will ever get." there's also an improving economic picture for new construction. nationwide, housing stats for the month of august were up 2.3%. but when compared with august of last year, they're up more than 29%. "i think that it says there's a confidence level and that while i'm not saying everything will be perfect tomorrow, i do think we'll keep improving at a very slow pace." housing has now improved to the point at which it's expected to add this year to gross domestic product growth for the first time since 2005.

tracking unemployment trends across the country: between july and august, rates were up in half the states, but, compared to last year, most states saw the unemployment drop. nevada has the highest rate, just over 12%. at the other end, north dakota, 3%. regionally, unemployment was highest in the west and lowest in the midwest. walmart is the next retailer in line for holiday hires. the retailer plans to add 50,000 jobs to handle the surge in sales it expects during the holiday rush. it also plans to give current workers extra hours during the winter shopping season as part of revamping customer service. last week, kohl's department stores said it would hire more than 50,000 workers. walmart's forging ahead with expansion plans - it will open retail outlets in india within the next year to 18 months. honda is down-shifting on its sales. the japanese automaker is aiming to double global sales within 5 years. that's a bump from 3 million to 6 million

vehicles. where's all that growth going to come from? emerging markets, says honda president takanobu ito - china and india mainly. the company will also rejigger operations to more quickly design and crank out new models that are market- specific. there will be more hybrids, plug-ins, mini models and a fuel-cell car that will be sold in the united states in 2015. general motors recalled cars over a gear shift problem that may cause the cars to roll away when they're supposed to be in park. more than 400,000 cars from 2007 to 2010 were recalled for transmission problems. that includes the chevrolet malibu, pontiac g-6, and saturn aura. it could cause the cars to roll off after the driver has left the car. the problem caused four crashes but no injuries so far. owners are asked to bring in cars to gm dealerships to fix the problem. earlier in september, gm recalled 400,000 chevrolet cruzes due to engine trouble.

2.5 years after the deepwater horizon disaster in the gulf, drilling and output are increasing. in fact, an energy consulting company says a gulf oil boom is about to flow. bentek energy predicts within 10 years production will gush 28%. before deepwater, the gulf had accounted for nearly a 3rd of our domestic output. it's now 20%. several oil companies have billions of dollars in new drilling projects planned. right now there are 4,000 platforms pumping oil and gas from 35,000 wells. kfc is closing all stores in pakistan after an attack on a restaurant in lebanon. a krispy kreme store and hardee's restaurant were also attacked in a strip mall in tripoli, lebanon. yum! brands, the owner of kfc franchises, was the first to shut down its restaurants as a precaution. kfc has a large presence in the muslim world. it owns 60 restaurants in pakistan and 11 franchises in the middle east. three states are joining the fight against dodd frank wall street reform. oklahoma, south

carolina, and michigan joined the state national bank of big spring, texas, the 60-plus association, and the competitive enterprise institute to ask the u.s. district court for a full review. all claim dodd-frank threatens taxpayers and state-by-state financial stability through its tough restrictions on pensions and tax dollars. google and facebook are facing off in an ad revenue race. early predictions are that google will take the lead this year, with $2.3 billion in ad revenue. facebook is expected to fall behind at $2.1 billion. those numbers, from emarketer, account for display ads, those ads you see on the sides of websites. google and facebook together are predicted to hold 37% of display ad revenue. by 2014, this means the two will likely beat out microsoft, yahoo and aol. cigarette companies - they were once among the biggest advertisers in the media. no more. the federal trade commission numbers show the

trend continues. now they're still spending, but not in the united states. tobacco marketing dropped more than 5% in 2010 from the year before, to around $8 billion. on the other end, fewer people are smoking as cigarette prices keep rising. in 2010, sales were down 3%. still - now this is a mind- blowing stat - 281,600,000,000 cigarettes were smoked that year. electric cars are easier on gas consumption, and a purchase comes with tax credits. but do they also pack a punch to the wallet? possibly, according to a report by the congressional budget office. the government expects to loose out on approximately $7.5 billion through 2019 from tax breaks given to electric car owners. but the cbo says owning one is not cheap either. the tax credit of about $7500 doesn't make up for the estimated $12,000-per-car battery costs for the life of the car that keep plug-ins running. if errors in financial judgment have cost you big money, know that you are not alone. a tally by the consumer federation of

america finds that 2/3 of americans surveyed said they made at least one "really bad financial decision." 47% said they had tripped up with money more than once. these "errors in judgement" average around $23,000 in debt. however, most americans who were questioned for the study say they are confident in their abilities to manage debt and plan sensible budgets. later in the show we'll go through the list - it's just out - of the top companies to work for. see if you can guess who's number one. first though, why we're wired to love work more than we love to relax. don't believe it? well, listen to the guy i talk with, next.

o'

of course you work hard, and to make life more tolerable at the office, what do we do? we look forward to the weekend, we look forward to going on vacation. we think that's really what we're wanting to do and that's the most wonderful, relaxing thing we can do. hogwash! so says the former white house director of economic policy and author of the book called "rush: why we thrive in the rat race." he makes the audacious claim that we don't really want to relax - we want to compete. in fact, we're wired to be fully engaged in work. that's when we're happiest. talk about counter-intuitive! so todd buchholz, the author of this book - why don't you explain yourself? > > the fact is bill, those of us who are around today are descended from those who

figured out how to escape trampling mastodons or sabretooth tigers. we are hard wired to compete. when we sit around and meditate all day, yes, our heartbeat slows, but we also get stupider, and don't get happier. vacations are nice. there's nothing wrong with a vacation. but the question is, should we be turning our everyday life into a vacation? that would be a terrible thing for most people. > > todd, sounds like a theory. do you have scientific evidence to back this up? > > absolutely bill. in "rush" i discuss studies that show when people retire early, they lose iq points. they think they'll sit around in cafes eating croissants and pastries all day, but it turns out they can't even find their favorite bakery anymore. > > it reminds me actually of my father-in-law. when he retired, he had a real struggle because he was so used to a certain pace in his own life. what are the lessons here? would bosses take away from your book the idea that maybe i should develop an office atmosphere that fosters competitiveness? > > in "rush" i discuss good competitiveness and bad competitiveness. there's

nothing good about dog-eat-dog, everyone scrapping or fighting for the last scrap on the table like in the david mamet play "glengarry glen ross." but companies also should create teams, and those teams should compete against each other. general motors used to be a fantastic company, and it was a fantastic company when pontiac and cadillac and oldsmobile and buick were all different and competing for the customers. gm when down the tubes when all of those divisions seemed to be the same and lost the spark of competition. > > so is another lesson "don't look forward to retirement, it may not be quite what you think it is?" > > you'd better map out a plan to stay busy, because if you don't stay busy, you are going to get bored, and your body will get bored, and when it gets bored it gets more sick and less happy. so, you better stay just as busy in retirement as you were in the work force. > > the name of the book is "rush." the author is todd buchholz. todd, thanks so much. > > thank you bill. good to be with you.

well, if we're wired to love to work hard, we need to be in a place where we can work happy. the list is out - the top companies to work for. we'll run the names for you, next.

think about this: what would the ideal work place be for you? what kind of office design? how about the boss? maybe the

atmosphere - dynamic and uplifting perhaps? the world's best workplaces have just been listed in a survey by the branding company universum. they call it "the world's most attractive employers 2012." okay kortney kutsop, your company compiled the numbers. whatwas your measuring stick here? > > yes bill. we actually based our rankings off of the 12 largest economies in the world, and then applied a weighting based on gdp. so, on the engineering side, 68,000 respondents; business, 75,000 respondents. > > obviously with those kinds of numbers, this is probably a pretty good list. let's take a look at one of the two lists. we have engineering first. give us the top five companies, and run through them backwards from 5 to 1 and give some comment. > > sure. no. 5, intel. obviously doing some great things with their employer brand. really focusing a lot on campus recruiting. bmw at no. 4. great automotive company. we're actually seeing this as a trend for the automotive industry, picking up quite a bit, being more attractive among engineering students. microsoft at no. 3. again, strong consumer brand really helping to impact the employer

brand. ibm, same thing at no. 2. and number 1, google. of course, when you think of innovation, who do you think of more than google? > > it's funny, because a lot of these companies i actually own stock in. there might be a correlation here. now let's take a look at the overall best companies. apple, which was no. 8 on the engineering list, it falls off the chart, and there again, google at the top. > > i know. surprising. we were all surprised to see apple kind of falling off, but i've been to google's headquarters, and let me tell you, talk about work/life balance, flexibility, inspiring, great people, bring your pet to work, volleyball, and they really respect their people. i think that's one of the biggest things i noticed when i was there. it's all about the ideas that you bring to the table - innovation, creativity is definitely something they emphasize quite a bit. > > it's a gold-plated brand

when people start talking about you in these kinds of favorable terms, and i'm sure they can pick the best employees because everybody knows that's the company everybody wants to work for. > > absolutely. absolutely. > > kortney kutsop, thank you so much. i'm going to run away and show this list to my boss and see if we might get some changes around here. bring my cat to work. what should we talk about in chart talk? how abou the company everybody's talking about? it may be a company to have in your portfolio.

welcome to chart talk. what is everybody talking about? of course, apple. so let's talk apple with randall liss. he's the head of options education at keeneonthemarket.com. let's separate reality from some of the hype here randall. help us understand what the options market is telling us about this, as you told me earlier, "runaway freight train" that is apple today. > > the options market is

suggesting a high level of complacency. i have to get a little technical to explain that. the out-of-the-money puts are trading at the same level as the out-of-the-money calls. normally in stock options, out- of-the-money puts trade higher than out-of-the-money calls. that's because there's a natural demand imbalance for puts, for protective reasons, and a natural supply imbalance in calls, for the covered writers. when the two get at the same price, that's called a "flat skew." it suggests complacency. it suggests that nobody believes apple can ever go down again. > > so a flat skew in a roaring stock like this, is that common in an equity play? > > no. it's remarkably uncommon. it is a danger sign. > > all right, so what are you building for some protection here on the bottom end and the top side? > > ok, here's my idea: apple is mighty. you don't get in the way of a freight train. it can easily go higher. i would not own apple without protective

puts. technically speaking, these protective puts are relatively cheap. > > where would you set those numbers? > > between $670 to $640, depending on your comfort level. > > ok, that's on the low end. how about on the top side? > > on the top side- i'm not going to short apple. i'm not going to step in front of the freight train. > > but would you sell at $750? > > if i owned it previously. i wouldn't short it. but yes, i would absolutely be looking to take some profit at the $750 level, which we could easily see by the end of the year. > > it sounds like apple is sort of rewriting the books though. it's quite an anomaly. > > apple is indeed. apple has rewritten so many books. they have such a luxury problem. they're not worried about their products selling, they're worried about delivering enough of them. what company wouldn't die for a problem like that? > > all right. randall liss, you have a good trading week ahead of you. thanks so much. > > thank you so much. that's first business for monday. tomorrow, gas credit cards. hmm, they may leave your wallet on empty. from all of us at first business, have a great day.

good morning. we are following breaking news out of hayward. police are investigating an officer involved shooting. anger continues in san francisco's mission district following a police shooting last week. the apps many are hoping to get later this morning during a meeting held by police. a principal of a south bay elementary school is expect in court this morning facing

felony charges. we will tell you what authorities found in his home. good morning. thank you for joining us on this monday morning september 24th i'm pam cook. it was pretty warm little muggy over the weekend. let's check with steve paulson. >> it was indeed a little cooler today. there is not a lot of fog but there is a little bit of fog. temperatures today even though pretty warm for some 60s and 70s and 80s and a few upper 80s. here is sal. steve, good morning. we are doing pretty well for the most part although we are following some news out of the pleasanton area where all lanes are blocked on southbound 680 on stone ridge drive. authorities say that the accident happened after a car hit a pedestrian just before 4:00 a.m.. now we have a crew on the way to tar